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 and to aid him in this warfare he has the Word of God, emphatically called the sword of the Spirit, put into his hands. In the same proportion as evil is driven from his will, and falsehood from his understanding, goodness and truth are given to supply their place; and thus in every temptation in which, under the Lord's guidance, he conquers, he receives fresh supplies of heavenly blessings. His affections become more and more in harmony with the purity of heaven, while wisdom beams brighter and brighter, as his understanding advances into the light of heaven. This wisdom, from love, the sure emblem of conquered sin, is called a CROWN, and has the emphatic name of LIFE attached to it, to denote that the essence of celestial good and truth, in which all the angels of heaven are principled, is that life which the Lord in his mercy imparts to all who are able to receive it, and enjoy it without perversion. As all good and truth are given by the Lord, so the crown is the Lord's gift to those who are faithful unto death. Being "faithful unto death," not only means faithfulness in the Christian life to the very end of our earthly course, but it also implies a constant endeavour to root out of the mind all impurity of affection and thought, and thus to effect the death or total extinction of all that is evil in the soul. The death of sin must first take place before the life of heaven can be formed.

Happy indeed is that Christian, who, amidst the world's trials and conflicts, proves himself faithful unto death! As he has carried the cross in and through time, he will wear the crown to eternity. Let us not fear the ten days' tribulation, which is mentioned in